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In the end, I’ve enjoyed Star Ocean 5, despite its shortcomings and any old school tendencies. I hope it sells well here, because the last thing I want is for Tri-Ace’s brand of JRPG to stop coming west. There’s promise in Integrity and Faithlessness that Star Ocean’s next incarnation could be really something special. Right now, it’s just not quite there in this edition.
Blizzard's first foray into the first person shooter genre was a bold move for the studio best known for its strategy titles and its MMO, World of Warcraft. Blizzard is first to market with Overwatch, its entry into the nascent, but rapidly growing hero shooter and unfortunately for everyone else, Blizzard's managed to hit the ball out of the park on its first swing.
If you are itching for a MOBA to play on your PS4 you can't go wrong with SMITE. The camera angle and control scheme are a natural fit on console. The power of the PS4 allows the game to be played without much noticeable difference than if it were on a PC. Also the ever growing pantheon of gods provide an interesting if not compelling reason to bring chaos to the battlefield from the comfort of your couch.
I cannot emphasize enough how surprisingly fast paced this game is. After playing Scrolls for a while, which has a similar concept of mixing card game elements with a board game, but had the problem of being too slow, I thought this wouldn't be possible. Duelyst proved me wrong, as almost no game takes longer than 5 to 10 minutes, while still offering tactical depth.
CD Projekt Red has raised the bar on what it takes to make a high quality story driven RPG. They did not fail to deliver on Geralt’s final tale either. If this is our last hurrah with the White Wolf it was time well spent.
Still, if you've been eying the crop of team-based shooters coming out these days, wondering which to pick, I'd recommend Battleborn. The PVE campaign, it's multi-layered and varied progression systems, and its Borderlands-esque humor make it a cut above the others still on deck. While it can often feel like Battleborn is trying to do too much at once, I'm glad it's more ambitious than its genre brethren, because in the end there ends up being more meat on Battleborn's bones because of its sky-high goals.
The Banner Saga 2 picks up right where the Banner Saga left off and makes for a wonderful sequel.
As long as you aren’t looking for the deeper meaning of gaming life in your games, I think you’ll find Tree of Savior to be an acquired taste that’s worth having every so often in your gaming diet, or as part of a fullcourse meal of action MMOdom.
Listen, I've rambled on for about 1500 words here, and several thousand more in preceding weeks. You don't need me to tell you any more about this game than what you can learn by simply picking it up. I will say this though: so many of us here clamor for something new and unique to hit the market. It's here now. Black Desert Online is one of the freshest takes on the MMO in years, and it deserves to be played.
Dark Souls 3 is the great game everyone expected it to be. There's no denying that. Two late game bosses are absolutely off-the-wall fantastic. But in hindsight having played it, I can't help feeling that there's not much room for the series to go if From Software insists on such a breakneck pace with sequels. Much like Bloodborne just felt like Souls in a different place, Dark Souls 3 feels like "more of the same" a little too often. Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing, and I worry that another quick turnaround on a Souls game will make the series feel stale. Here's hoping whatever comes next shows us that the From Software still has more tricks up its sleeve.
Even with its blemishes the Division establishes itself nicely as a new tent pole for Ubisoft and the Massive Entertainment studio and lays the foundation for future expansions to come.
In many ways, Trails of Cold Steel’s JRPG trappings and gameplay struggle to remain relevant in an evolving genre. Yet, paradoxically, it’s the game’s conventional approach that makes it appealing, a reminder of the formula that has made JRPGs so popular, with several ease-of-use additions here and there to make it more accessible in the contemporary milieu. If you’re looking for something new to play on your Vita or PS3, you’d be hard-pressed to do better.
There is no question that Grim Dawn moves along familiar lines: Base classes, a tragic world inhabited by monsters in a wide variety of flavors, nearly constant loot drops, action-oriented combat, somewhat "lite" yet interesting story, etc. Somehow, though, Grim Dawn just does it better than any other ARPG in recent memory.
Hats off to Obsidian Entertainment for creating and curating a fantasy world I can care about again, and here's hoping for many more adventures in the future.
If the developers went back to the drawing board and designed a strategy RPG from the ground up and implemented the systems present in PXZ2 they would be off to a great start. However an overly long introduction that becomes boring after a few hours distracts from what is otherwise a decent game. If this game had a tighter story, trimmed up the dialogue, and improved upon its technical performance by reducing slowdown, it would be something special.
I've had fun with my time in Blade & Soul, but my desire to log in is waning as I sit at the cap and realize all that's left to do is more dailies and grinding for better gear… I'm pretty sure I've been here before. I'd be all about the world PVP if it was more meaningful, just as I'd play the arena PVP if I was at all good enough to make a go of it (I am not). In the end, Blade & Soul just feels like a game that's not for me and that's OK. It's still a very good game, quite competent at achieving its goals. It sometimes feels like its big MMO features are just tacked on to give people something to do between the next arena match, and that's OK too. If League of Legends or SMITE had a big open world campaign, I'd wager I'd play them more too. Blade & Soul can be content in having some of the best combat in MMO history, and I'll be content to pop my head in on the game from time to time to see what's new.
What makes Darkest Dungeon a fascinating experience isn't the rich character progression and overarching strategy, but the way it manages to make each character feel like a living, breathing human before asking you how much you'll ruin them to increase your bottom line. There's pockets of subtext that I continually filled with my own moral struggle. Spaces left ingeniously blank where, when I allow myself to reflect on my actions, I realize that the greatest evil isn't waiting at the end of a dimly lit crypt. It is sitting right in this chair, typing these words.
As much as I wanted to love Bombshell, and in some ways do despite its flaws, I cannot recommend the game in its current state.
Overall, if you can get over the "janky"-ness of the visuals, then you will definitely find an engrossing action RPG with some great systems. The story is a bit bland, but can be made up for with strong combat, excellent controls, an interesting class system, and a wide variety of interesting enemies.
All in all, FIVE: Guardians of David is a very solid, well-priced ($24.99 on Steam) ARPG that will give players a lot of satisfaction and many hours of enjoyment. Fans of ARPGs will find a lot to like here as there is no question that it stands alongside the likes of Diablo, Torchlight and Titan Quest in a very favorable way.